Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE EXILE OF BEAUTY, by REMY DE GOURMONT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE EXILE OF BEAUTY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Go seeking in the human forest old
Last Line: Be ugliness to them, though beauty's self thou art.
Subject(s): Beauty; Death; Exiles; Lips; Love; Dead, The


Go seeking in the human forest old
The shelter for thy flickering life foretold,
Nor tremble so when evening damps oppress thy veins with cold;
Think that the withered flesh no Springtime can beguile,
And keep about thy pallid lips the shadow of a smile.
Take thou both staff and scrip upon thy ways,
And over the fields follow thou still the trace
Of the tall oxen when to plough they go,
Or children seeking where new flowers, the flowers of passion grow.
Perhaps thou wilt find love in that lone land
Or death, or poor men who stretch forth their hand
Toward thy heart and wish thee dead;
And thou wilt give them what thou hast, a little barley bread;
But they will speak in hostile wise
And at their impure words the tears will start into thine eyes.
Weep not! The gods with lofty head,
Though into exile driven the floor of heaven tread.
Thy divine bareness keep from hypocrites apart,
Be ugliness to them, though Beauty's self thou art.





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